Democracy Institute

The Democracy Institute is a think tank with links to the Cato Institute[1] and Spiked online[2]. The main focus of its attention is on public health initiatives that are likely to interfere with the marketing activities of the tobacco[3], alcohol[4] and food[5] industries.

The Institute is regularly consulted by the media as a body of experts in public health issues with Patrick Basham and John Luik frequently appearing as media commentators, 33 worldwide newspaper articles between 2006 and 2009 cite Basham and Luik as experts on public health issues[6].
The Institute's director Patrick Basham is a former tobacco industry lobbyist and publishes most of the research on the Institute's website along with John Luik who is also a former tobacco industry lobbyist[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17].

The Institute describes itself as "a politically independent public policy research organization based in Washington and London". The think tank was founded in 2006. Its stated aims are:

to further public education through the production and dissemination of accessible commentary and scholarship. The Democracy Institute aims to provide a balanced and thoughtful perspective on topical issues, promoting open and rational debate based on evidence rather than ideology[18].

The Institute is regularly consulted by the media as experts in public health issues with Patrick Basham and John Luik regularly appearing as media commentators, 33 worldwide newspaper articles between 2006-2009 cite Basham and Luik as experts on public health issues[19].